I think they were smart, driven and humble enough to go play whatever whenever to get the exposure. They played Warped Tour, I went that year just to see them and iirc ETID that year. You just don’t see a lot of death metal bands doing that, Corpse played Mayhem Fest I can’t imagine them playing Warped. They also never went all in on a tough guy, “this shit real”, “we’re heavier than you” approach. They have merch with colors besides black, white and red. They’ve always been the goofy, fun melodic death metal band once they hit their stride. They being said, I never had to worry about having Trevor pull a Randy Blythe and decide one day to start singing and shit. They never lost their edge. I remember when I met my now fiancé, I showed her the music I like and she was especially put off by TBDM having never been to anything heavier than you’d normally see at a Warped Tour. The imagery, lyrics, titles and abrasive sound had her thinking a certain way about it all. One day she came over while I was watching my ‘Majesty’ DVD. I’ll never forget seeing it click, she goes, “Ooohh…they’re a bunch of nerds?”. Fast forward a bit and she came to see 200 Stab Wounds at St. Vitus in Brooklyn with me most recently.
Despite any old controversy and what may have been going on behind the scenes I still love John’s performances on the old stuff too. That’s part of Ryan’s appeal to me, his stuff has a similar feel to me except the technicality of his stuff is just on another level. They both, imo, can sound predictable at times though. Enter Brandon Ellis, he seems to grab from a deeper bag of tricks than either and brings a new (retro inspired for sure) style that neither have. I will miss Brian’s AtG worship style riffing. I don’t think Brian can be topped there but Ellis and Knight together is just peak potential as far as solos are concerned in my mind.
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